So, from the match preview I only got 10 of 11 (17 of 18 amongst the suited up players)…Ah well, so it goes… 😀

On the Newcastle side, Rob Elliot has recovered from illness to take the goalkeeper’s gloves for the Toon which should give them a lift. Chiek Tiote comes in for injured Vernon Anita as the midfield fulcrum man. McClaren going for both Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic is a “go for it” sort of statement which doesn’t leave a lot of attacking talent on the subs bench beyond Thauvin and Gouffran.

It’s a similar situation on our side, with only Campbell (and Gibbs, I guess) as an attacking option who has actually scored for the first team. This is a serious squad Wenger has put out today, and one which needs to get on top of the Magpies early to secure the full points.

Go on you Gunners, I say!!

What do you think? Please join me in the comments for this one. Cheers!!

103 Responses to Bergkampesque Live Blog. Line-ups are Out and Koscielny, Monreal and Flamini are Back In.

‘Pool lose 2-nil at Upton Park. They are our next league match on Wednesday the 13th. Between now and then they have to play Stoke in the league cup semi (first leg) and then Exeter City in a Friday night match in the FA Cup… As such, they’ll have an extra day’s rest before we play them. It won’t matter if they don’t start playing better, however…

6th min…Very nice close control again on the right but Bell’s toe poke pass gets intercepted… Toon break is easily contained… Back with us with Taylor allowing advantage but then we give it back… Giroud complaining…

The weather is VERY heavy but we’re backing off a lot whenever they get the ball. In this weather counters will not work over the full length of the pitch. Wenger should be able to see this and get our lines further up-field to try and start some things.

Perhaps the weather is bad all over the country as the only goal is in the Sunderland-Villa match…

OK, espresso has been pulled… Hopefully the lads have a machine of their own in the dressing room…

It’s a very slow pitch with water everywhere but our guys, esp. Flamini are backing off and letting Toon play the match in our half. If things dry up playing on the break makes plenty of sense. As it was, however, we just can’t get the ball–and the bodies–forward fast enough…

Early on, however, Bellerin was unstoppable on the right–except when he gave it to his winger (the Ox) whose final balls, again, were lacking.

As such, while we looked dangerous and created some pressure I’m sure the shots stat will be heavily in favor of the Magpies. They’ve all been harmless except for the one which Cech was decisive about…

Gotta hope for better in the 2nd…First goal could be a decider given very little firepower on either bench…

Our match getting going slower than the rest… Toonies on the pitch first and running around while we’re walking slowly on… Weather still looks very heavy but the breeze (which you can see from the rain) looks behind us now…

We’re really struggling in the middle of the pitch but the chances are being slowed by the water on the pitch. That said, Wijnaldum should have scored even if he had to wait a split second for Ayoze’s pass…

We need midfielders and we need Alexis back ASAP… If this Elnenny is worth half what we paid for Cech, (which is what we’re paying) he should help… Cech was immense today…

The hunger of Giroud to get the header to Kos on the goal was really, really good…A world class striker might’ve protected his noggin instead… 😀 Kinda like Ozil did with his foot on the ball that Toonies won that led to the Wijnaldum chance… More smileys… We won and Messy didn’t hurt himself…

Leicester (Mahrez) missed a pen and couldn’t win a man up for more than half an hour…

Wanyama gets two yellows as So’ton lose to Norwich… Just the physicality we need?…

So, TA (or others)…Even if you have Sky you cannot see the 3 o’clock Saturday matches?… Are they on at the pub, at least?… And, if so, have you found a favorite yet? I liked the one at the golf course… 😀